HOUSTON, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE) — Caribbean nations will come together for the first time to specifically address emergency response protocols for offshore deepwater drilling activities at Open Forum’s inaugural conference: One Caribbean – One Response on September 13, 2012, in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

“The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico are inextricably linked by the continuous flow of ocean currents and eddy streams. A deepwater event in any one of these regions becomes everyone’s challenge,” said Open Forum founder Lee Hunt, former President of the International Association of Drilling Contractors. “While the international focus has been largely an effort by the United States to protect its shores, One Caribbean – One Response will give Caribbean nations the opportunity to focus on how they can learn from each other and work together to build deepwater response capabilities.”

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URCA’s investigation into BTC’s recent outages and Commonwealth Bank’s earnings results for the first half of the year top the news agenda this week. Watch the full ZNS business report here.

OLDWICK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE) — A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a-” of Sagicor Life Inc. (St. Michael, Barbados) and its operating life insurance subsidiary, Sagicor Capital Life Insurance Company Limited (Nassau, Bahamas). A.M. Best also has affirmed the FSRs of A- (Excellent) and ICRs of “a-” of Sagicor General Insurance Inc. (Sagicor General) (Bridgetown, Barbados) and Sagicor Life Insurance Company (Sagicor Life USA) (Austin, TX). Additionally, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of B++ (Good) and ICR of “bbb” of Sagicor Life Jamaica Limited (Kingston, Jamaica). The outlook for all ratings is stable.

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Evoking the era of the world famous Nassau car racing in the 1950s and ’60s, Speed Week 2012 will run November 24-December 2. To find out more details, watch a press conference about the event here.

Minister of Health Perry Gomez (left) with the People’s Republic of China’s Ambassador to The Bahamas, Hu Shan. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson)

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The Minister of Grand Bahama, Michael Darville (pictured), says the newly created Ministry has drawn up its portfolio, identified the areas of most need and is ready to tackle the island’s challenges.

“The economic crisis and lack of jobs have negatively affected a large amount of people on this island and we understand that need,” he said.

“We are working very diligently to ensure that the residents who are in need have access to the services we have put in place, while the economy moves forward for growth and development.”

The Ministry will be one of the instrumental tools that will lead the way to economic recovery, he added.

Shortly after winning the election in May, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced he would establish a new Ministry devoted solely to Grand Bahama to guide its economic recovery, encourage foreign direct investment and boost its tourism product.

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The British Colonial Hilton has added a Private Beach Club to its range of services and facilities.

GRAND CAY, Abaco, Aug. 19 (FNM) — Today marks the 20th anniversary of the election of the first government led by the Free National Movement.

Sadly, on this significant anniversary we mourn the untimely death of National Chairman Charles T. Maynard, former Member of Parliament for the Golden Isle Constituency and former Minister of Youth Sports and Culture.

Charlie Maynard represented the youthful and dedicated energy that has made the Free National Movement a wonderful reflection of the Bahamian spirit.  Even as I salute the FNM, I also salute Charlie, and I acknowledge with deep gratitude all that he did for our party, my Government and our country.  It should not be lost on any of us that Charlie “died on the job” taking care of FNM business.

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For some perspective on one of the more important global stock markets, today’s chart focuses on Chinese stocks and presents the current trend of the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI). As today’s chart illustrates, Chinese stocks have endured what amounts to an extremely wild ride since 2005. The FXI trended upward at an ever accelerating rate (i.e. parabolic) from 2005 to Q4 2007. As the credit bubble began to unravel, so too did Chinese stocks with the FXI trending downward at an ever accelerating rate from Q4 2007 to Q4 2008. Beginning in Q4 2008, the FXI surged — gaining over 155% trough to peak. Since that post-financial crisis peak back in Q4 2010, Chinese stocks initially treaded water but more recently have embarked on a steep downtrend. More recently, Chinese stocks did rally but just turned back down after hitting resistance (see red line).

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This is an excerpt from Chart of the Day as it appeared on August 20, 2012. For updates or to read the current version of this post in its entirety, please click here.

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Eight teams will participate in the second annual Battle 4 Atlantis on November 22-24, 2012, the richest Division I Men’s pre-season college basketball tournament.